Prostheses can be an important part of providing greater physical independence for individuals who have physical impairments. For those with hearing impairments, a hearing aid can assist in allowing an individual to enjoy a lifestyle with similar benefits to those without such impairments.
Quite apart from the field of prosthetics, in general, electronic devices are becoming ubiquitous. Indeed, the functionality originally separately found in wireless telephones, wireless paging devices, wireless email devices, wireless text message devices (“wireless communication devices”) is increasingly being integrated into a single enhanced electronic device (“EED”) that also includes the functionality of a traditional personal digital assistant (“PDA”). Digital still cameras, digital video cameras, digital video players and digital audio players are ripe for integration into a single EED. Yet, with an aging population that is increasingly reliant on EEDs, considerations for those with physical impairments, including hearing impairments, are a factor when developing an EED.
Indeed, the Federal Communication Commission (“FCC”) of the United States of America (“USA”) has recently ruled that wireless communication devices are no longer exempt from the hearing aid compatibility (“HAC”) magnetic coupling requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Compliance with the ADA will mean that wireless devices, including wireless EEDs, will need to produce a magnetic field of a specified strength and frequency response which can be detected by a telephone coil (“telecoil” or “T-coil”), which are now being commonly deployed in hearing aids.
This ruling also specifies that wireless communication devices, including EEDs, also meet certain radio frequency (“RF”) interference requirements. However, these RF interference requirements are difficult to meet due to the high RF levels emitted by the EED and the sometimes lack of RF immunity in the hearing aid. One way to ameliorate this problem is to place the EED's antenna as far as possible from the user's hearing aid, by locating the antenna at the bottom of the device. However, depending on the form factor of the device and/or the RF signals associated with operation of the device, merely relocating the antenna will not necessarily suffice.